2006-2007 Executive Committee and Board of Directors
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First Row, left to right: Deborah Hathaway, Patricia
Giuliano, Javan Johnson, Mona Hart Chandler, Robert Soliz;Second Row, left to
right: Cecile Wiginton, Stephanie Hawkes Debbie House, Deirdre Trotter; Third Row, left to
right: Deborah Skolaski, Page McCoy, Billy Hart, Kristy Ritchie, Debbie Oaks
Guerra, Clara L. Buckland |
Javan Johnson, ACP
President
 Javan Johnson, ACP, is a freelance paralegal who began her own business in
Longview in February 1999, specializing in civil trial litigation, after working
20 years for a sole practitioner. She has a bachelor's degree in Business
Administration and Business Education from Baylor University. Javan obtained her
CLA in 1990, earned the NALA Advanced Certified Paralegal designation in 1993,
and became certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization in 1996. Javan has served the Paralegal Division of the State Bar
of Texas (PD) for many years as subchair and chair on various committees, served
on the Board of Directors as District 14 Director, served as President in
2000-2001, and now serves as President for 2006-2007. She was the recipient of
the Award of Excellence in 2004. In addition to being a charter member of PD,
Javan is also a charter member of the Northeast Texas Association of Paralegals,
Inc. (NTAP), in Longview, and has served that organization since its inception
in 1988 in a number of different offices, including President. Javan
participated in the start-up of the legal assistant program at Kilgore College
in 1988, and has been an instructor in that program since that time. Javan has
been married to her husband, Brett, for 20 years, and has one son, Cameron, age
18.
Patricia J. Giuliano
President-Elect
 Patti is your new President-Elect. She has gained a lot of experience serving
PD since becoming a member in 2001. First, in 2003 she co-chaired the Socials
Sub-Committee of the LAU (now TAPS) Planning Committee, and then served as
Co-Chair of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee in 2004. Subsequent to the
Annual Meeting she was elected to serve as director of District 5.
In addition to working with the Division, Patti has also been active on the
Board for the Alamo Area Professional Legal Assistants, Inc. having served as
the Professional Development Director in 2002-03, and was elected Treasurer for
the 2003-04 Board year.
In addition to her paralegal organization affiliations Patti also serves as
the Volunteer Coordinator for the San Antonio Bar Association's Community
Justice Program, and has served on the San Antonio Bar Foundation's Courthouse
Fun Run Committee since 2001.
Professionally speaking, Patti is an intellectual property paralegal with Cox
Smith Matthews Incorporated, and has over eight years experience working in this
field of law. Prior to her IP days, she worked in medical malpractice defense
and did corporate and estate planning work that as well. All told, she has
worked in the legal field for over 20 years.
Patti is married to Steve Giuliano and has two great kids and one beautiful
granddaughter. Having traveled throughout the United States as a military wife
(now retired), she has been fortunate enough to gain experience with the legal
process outside the state of Texas in such places as California, Indiana, and
Ohio. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and received her
degree in paralegal studies from the ABA-approved program at Sinclair Community
College in Dayton, Ohio.
Mona Hart Chandler, CP
Secretary
 Mona serves the Division as Director of District 14, and is currently in her
second two-year term in that position. She is a NALA certified paralegal and
earned her bachelor's degree from East Texas Baptist University in Marshall,
where she also completed her legal assistant studies. She has been employed at
Hill & Calk, P.C., in Longview for the past two and a half years under the
supervision of James I. Calk. Prior to coming to Longview, she was employed by
T. G. Davis in Carthage. Real estate and oil & gas have been the main areas
of law for Mona for most of the 25 years she has been in the profession,
although she also works with business entities, and in probate and estate
planning.
The primary focus during Mona's terms of office has been to exert every
effort to make CLE readily available to the members of District 14, and to put
on CLE presentations around the District as much as possible. She gives credit
to an excellent group of sub-chairs B Ann Lee (Membership), Carla Hemphill
(Continuing Education), Cynthia Williams (Elections), and Andrea Brunson (Public
Relations). Without their enthusiasm and hard work the Director's job would be
impossible.
Mona is also serving her second term as Secretary of the Board of Directors
of the Paralegal Division and as President of the Northeast Texas Association of
Paralegals (NTAP) in Longview. In her time away from the office, Mona is either
spoiling grandchildren or working on her book.
Deborah Hathaway
Treasurer
 Deborah serves as the Treasurer for the Paralegal Division and has been
District 13 Director since February 2005.
A paralegal with 20 year's experience working in the private, public, and
government sectors, Deborah's resume ranges from working for sole practitioners
to international mega-company legal departments. She is currently Paralegal to
the General Counsel for North America at Schlumberger Technology Corporation.
Deborah received her paralegal certification from Southwestern Paralegal
Institute, Houston, Texas, holds membership in NALA and is a Charter Member of
the Paralegal Division of the College of the State Bar of Texas.
Deborah is the proud mother of three daughters and one son who have blessed
her with three fantastic grandchildren. Deborah has a wide variety of interests
and talents and many friends and family with whom to share them. Travel is a
favorite pastime, including an exceptional recent visit to Paris with the PD.
Robert Soliz
Parliamentarian
 Robert is a paralegal at the Victoria firm of Cole, Cole & Easley, P.C.
where he has worked for the past five years, mainly under the supervision of Rex
L. Easley, Jr.
He assists in all phases of the firm's personal injury docket, including
product defects, premise liability, auto accidents, trucking accidents, oilfield
accidents, construction accidents, and wrongful death cases, as well as the
firms general civil litigation, probate litigation and maritime law practice.
Prior to joining Cole, Cole and Easley, Robert assisted in other areas of law
including appellate, bankruptcy (debtor and creditor), insurance defense,
employment and family law.
Robert is currently obtaining his associates degree in web page designing and
will earn a bachelor's degree in networking and troubleshooting, specializing in
computer graphic animation for accident and injury reconstruction. He has been a
member of the Division since 1996 and was District 8 Director for 2004-2006,
with the members in his district re-electing him to another term. He was
recently elected President of the local paralegal association, Crossroads Legal
Association.
When Robert is not working at the law firm, he is very active in other civic
and community organizations. He is a member of the Victoria Northside Rotary
(Director 2003-2006 and Lane Chair in 2003), Victoria USBC Association (formally
Victoria YABA) as past President, Vice-President and is currently a Director. In
addition, Robert coaches approximately 20 to 30 youth bowlers ranging from 5 to
22 years of age. Robert is also a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of
America (ATLA) and the College of the State Bar of Texas. Robert is married to
his wife Leslie for the last 16 years and they have two children -- a son,
Mackenzie, age 12 and a daughter, Devon age 9.
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